.:37:.

How to Fix a Family (and Tear It Down Again)

Barry raised his eyes to meet Joe's as the two stood around Eddie. Eddie rested his face in his hands as he leaned forward on the couch, eyes staring straight ahead.

"Okay, I know this is the worst way you could've found out, and it's probably something that's really hard to understand," Joe said slowly. "But there's a reason not many people know about this. There's a reason we had to keep it a secret from you."

"Because I had set up that task force that tried to take him down?" Eddie murmured.

Barry blinked twice. "What? No." He had actually forgotten about that. There was already so much going on he forgot at one point Eddie absolutely hated The Flash and wanted nothing more than to take him down. Then again he was sure part of it was because of Iris's obsession with the Flash once upon a time. "You…you actually had some good reasons for that, back then no one knew what the Flash…I was doing."

He winced.

It was hard to say something like that out loud after having kept it a secret for so long. Especially when Iris could come walking in at any moment. So taking Eddie to the West house probably wasn't the best idea in terms of having this conversation but it was the first place Barry could think of to get Eddie out of the CCPD. Then he and Cadence had called Joe to tell him what was going on, much to the Detective's confusion and initial fear.

"No one knew that he was trying to help the city rather than destroying it like the rest of the metahumans," Cadence explained, speaking up for the first time since they had arrived. "And that's where the initial fear came from."

Eddie turned towards her and looked at her for a long moment, his blond brows coming together. "And you're…Flash Fire," he commented.

"Fla—"Cadence waved her hand. "Forget it, that's going to take a while to catch on. Yes, that's me."

"But you weren't here in Central City when the…Particle Accelerator?" Joe and Barry nodded, causing Eddie to nod as well. "When the Particle Accelerator blew. How are you able to have the same sort of powers."

"I've had my powers since I was about eight years old," Cadence explained. "That's a long story, too. But I've been living in Central City for a while and didn't come forward with what I could do until I saw the Flash was around."

"So every time the Flash came around to help the CCPD that was you?" Eddie asked. He didn't wait for Barry to respond, he kept going. "And that's why you're always disappearing when Captain Singh is looking for you. And why you're always coming up with such lame excuses—"

"They're not that lame," Barry finally defended himself. Now he stretched his arms before resting them atop his head. "Yes .Every time it was me. I know we should've told you sooner but I…we couldn't risk the secret coming out. It would've put everyone around us in danger. You, Iris, everyone at the CCPD."

"I'm sorry you had to find out this way, Eddie, but we need you to keep this secret," Joe insisted. He placed his hands on his hips and started to pace. "There's too much at stake if anyone else finds out."

Eddie lifted his head and glanced at Joe in surprise. "You want me to lie to Iris?"

Joe licked his lips then pressed them together. "Eddie, listen to me. We're trying to keep Iris safe. Even telling you is putting you in danger. Anyone around Barry who knows his secret is put in danger in the off chance you'll be used as leverage against him."

"So you expect me to sit back and say nothing?"

"No, we expect you to continue working with the CCPD, living your life," Cadence insisted. "The only difference being now you know the real identities behind the two metas that are trying to save Central City."

"Save it from what?"

Now Barry held his breath. He exchanged a look with Joe and Cadence, who looked back at him with varying degrees of encouragement. "From the Reverse-Flash," he explained. Eddie's eyes widened. "The Man in Yellow that attacked during Christmas. He was the one that killed my mother, the one I've been chasing. He's been in Central City the whole time. And he's come back to….well, probably to kill me."

"Why would he want to kill you when he killed your mother?"

Barry closed his eyes once more. That was an even longer story. There was so much Eddie needed to know but at the moment none of it was important. Not so much more than making sure everyone was on the same page and that Eddie knew not to say anything.

"Eddie, we need you to promise that you're not going to tell Iris about this," Joe insisted. "That's the most important thing right now. There's already too any people who are starting to figure things out. This is incredibly important."

"Okay, okay." Eddie stood up and mimicked Joe's stance, placing his hands on his hips. This pushed the bottom of his jacket backwards, to reveal the belt filled with gadgets and gizmos that the police gave them. Barry gulped when he spotted the gun that sat in Eddie's holster, suddenly very nervous about him knowing. "I won't say anything to Iris. But, you have to promise that I'll be able to soon. I don't like keeping secrets from her."

"Neither do we," Joe agreed. "But this is the best option for her."

Cadence shook her head but didn't say anything. Instead, she tilted her head to the side and asked, "When you heard our conversation, was there something that you needed to talk to Barry about? Usually you don't go to his lab."

Eddie was silent for a moment. Then his face cleared and he ran a hand over his mouth then through his hair. "Oh. Right. You know that case that we were looking into of the woman who was accused of stealing jewelry? Then I chased the person on foot and they got away, right? Well, the person tried to hock off the jewels at a different pawn shop and this time they succeeded. The strange part is that they were a different person and I was going to suggest that it might've been a group of crooks doing this and maybe Barry could find something that would've proven that but now…"

"Meta?" Cadence asked.

"Meta," Barry clarified. "Probably a shape-shifting one if the person that was originally accused of stealing is so adamant about not having done it."

"But we have her on tape," Eddie insisted.

"Or you think you do. This isn't the first time, over the years that I've been working the CCPD, that someone has been accused of doing something they were vehement they didn't do. We should look back on those cases and see where they all start."

"Chances are with the Particle Accelerator explosion," Barry said.

Cadence brought her hand up to cover her mouth for a moment. She squeezed her eyes shut as if trying to figure out whether or not she wanted to say something. "Mmm. Maybe not. This could be Incognito's work."

"Incognito?" Barry repeated.

"Who's Incognito?" Eddie questioned.

"He's a member of the Assassination Bureau along with Stratos, Mindboggler, and Breathtaker where the Assassination Bureau are a group of metahumans mercenaries. Incognito has the ability to morph himself into any person he wants to be."

"To the point that no one is sure what he really looks like," Cadence added. She scratched the back of her head. "There have been times where I've seen a jacket and a hat on him but noting underneath. I think he has the powers to turn invisible, too. This might be him."

"I thought the Assassination Bureau left Central City," Barry pointed out.

"I said might, Barry. Not that I know for sure. If anything, this could be another meta. There's already more speedsters and people with the ability of fire than we originally thought. There could be more of these powers, too. We don't know."

"Either way, if something comes up again then you can't go after them, Barry."

Now Barry turned to Joe so fast he was surprised he didn't spin in a complete circle. "Why not?"

"If this person, meta, whatever can morph into anyone, how do we know that they can't morph with your powers, too?"

Barry's jaw dropped to protest then he closed it and nodded. That made a lot of sense. He couldn't risk there being another speedster. Especially if they specifically had his power. If his recent training practices were anything to go by it meant he needed to practice some more. Especially if he ever had to fight himself.

"So what do we do now?" Eddie asked.

"We have to let Caitlin and Cisco know what's going on so they'll keep their guards up. Make sure we're not caught off guard. And then we go after this guy, see if we can find him," Cadence said.

"Eddie and I'll go through as many records as we can to see if there's a pattern on this," Joe added. He turned back to Barry and placed a hand on his shoulder. "Keep your head low and try not to do that thing you always do where you go running off as soon as something happens. We need to be smart about this one and I don't even want to imagine what'll happen if there's another you out there."

"You and me both," Barry agreed. He turned to Cadence and tilted his head towards the door. "You want to head out to STAR Labs? The sooner we let them know what's going on, the better."

"Actually, I need to see Ryder first. It's where I was going to go after escorting Ronnie and Professor Stein around the city but then I had to go see you." Cadence explained. She looked over at Joe and Eddie and Joe nodded, holding up his hand in a bid of farewell then left the two metahumans alone.

Barry took a good look at Cadence and immediately became concerned. "What's going on?"

"I got another visit from CPS yesterday," Cadence said. And Barry listened as she explained how the agents had been as friendly as ever when stopping by to ask her and Brady questions about the way they lived and Cadence's new job with the CCPD. However, they also pointed out that there were a few things in the way they lived; where there were stretches of time where Brady would be left alone or he'd be consistently passed around to other people, as well as her past within Metropolis raised up some red flags for them. So they'd continue to be looked at for a while.

"So what does that mean, that they're going to take Brady away?" Barry asked.

"Not unless I can once and for all prove that he's in a stable environment. And that's why I need to talk to Ryder. He mentioned that he wants to have joint custody of Brady and I think, considering the circumstances we're in, and if everything that's being said about Harrison is true, it might be the best idea."

"I know it's really none of my business, but don't you think its better that he at least gets to know Brady before he gets custody?"

"Considering we may all be murdered within the next few weeks? My worry about that shot out the window ages ago. Besides, he wouldn't have come to Central City and gone to his soccer games, and to his birthday party, and just stuck around in general if he wasn't being serious. Besides, you were the one that suggested I talk to him and air my grievances. "

Barry nodded. There was nothing he could do about the shape shifting metahuman and there was nothing he could do about a decision that really had nothing to do with him. For the first time in a long time he felt completely helpless and useless.

"So I'll meet you at STAR Labs," Barry concluded with a nod. "Good luck."

"I should say that to you."

Barry raised an eyebrow.

"Good luck not stopping a robbery, a car theft, a purse snatcher, a jaywalker…"

Barry laughed lightly as Cadence smiled and teleported out of the house. Once he was alone his smile faded, thoughts drifting back to everything that had transpired over the past couple of weeks. He needed to know for sure what was going on and if that meant he had to prove Harrison wasn't the person they thought he was, then he had to do that.

He was getting ready to run from the house when there was a knock on the door. Barry hesitated a moment before going to the door to open it. If anything it was probably Eddie wanting to get some more clarity on everything he had just been told.

But as soon as Barry opened the door he was hit in the face with a solid blow.

Everything went black even before he hit the floor.

"A shape-shifting metahuman?" Cisco asked, dropping the screwdriver that was in his hand. It bounced on his foot and rolled away. Cisco winced but didn't move to retrieve the instrument. Ray, who stood on his other side, continued to work but looked at Barry with wide eyes.

"That's…that's a real thing?" Ray added, eyes shifting back and forth from Barry to Cisco and over again. He started to smile a smile much like a little kid who was told they were going to have a surprise birthday party. "Like, a real thing?"

"Is that even a question?" Cisco chuckled. "Do you even know what city you're in? You may have all of the big guns back in Starling but we have lots of fun here. And that includes shape-shifting metahumans." He turned to Barry who gave an impatient roll of his eyes. "Do you know what that means?"

"No…?" Barry prompted.

Cisco gave him a 'duh' look. "No, that this metahuman is something that we could use to our advantage. Use them to figure out where and what the Reverse-Flash is going to strike next."

"If that were the case, then, plausibly, it'd be the same thing that he could use against you," Ray pointed out. He spun a wrench around his fingers. "Let's think about this realistically and with statistics, the chances of this Reverse-Flash that you guys keep talking about is consistently watching you is pretty high. So chances are he's already aware of this shape-shifting metahuman and if that really is the case then how do we know he's not already using said person against you?"

"And then robbing the bank would be a good distraction, to keep us from realizing what he's really doing," Cisco deduced. He snapped his fingers then switched the tone of his voice to mimic an older woman's, "It's brilliant, brilliant, brilliant, I say!"

Ray beamed and pointed at him. "Emperor's New Groove!"

Cisco beamed back. "I knew I liked you for a reason."

"So…" Barry reached out and gently ran his fingers along the side of Ray's suit. "What do you think we should do?"

"Right now we should tell Caitlin and get her opinion on things, other than that we can't do anything until we get the information back from Joe and Eddie."

Barry blinked at him for a long moment. "And Caitlin would be…?"

"In the Cortex. I think she said something about continuing to maintain a surveillance on the city and taking down inventory on the medical supplies." Cisco turned back to the suit and examined it for a moment before flipping the pair of goggles he wore up his face. "Once Cadence gets here we can figure out a plan."

Barry nodded and left the room while Cisco went to retrieve his screwdriver. He twisted it back and forth in his hand as he turned to Ray. "So how are things going with you in Starling City? You seemed really excited to be up-close and personal with the metahumans out here."

"I guess because the Arrow has things figured out in Starling," Ray replied, continuing his work on his suit. "But I don't think he's doing the job he should be doing. Not only are the police completely against him but he's not one that plays well with others. I had gone out to help him with my suit and we just got into a fight."

"Really?" Cisco's eyes shifted back and forth for a moment before he turned to make sure Ray couldn't see him. "Imagine that." It wasn't so far off. Oliver shot arrows into Barry's freaking back! He wouldn't be so happy to know anyone else was in his city taking down some bad guys. If Barry had gone over there first he probably would've come back in a body bag.

"Yeah, really," Ray agreed. He didn't seem to notice the change in Cisco's demeanor. "But I…I can't stop doing what I'm doing. The Arrow isn't doing much to help the city's morale. No one trusts him as much as they used to. I want to be able to do something to show the city that there's someone there who is trying to help keep them safe. Like Barry's done here."

"Yeah, I can understand that. I—"

Cisco suddenly cut himself off, blinking rapidly as everything in front of him started to shake and blur. He blinked a few more times and things continued to blur and shift out of focus. The next thing he knew, the room changed completely and Cisco was hit in the face with a wave of damp air.

There was never a draft in STAR Labs. Not like that. Caitlin's office got pretty cold every now and then, but not to the point that it felt like condensation was gathering on his face. He could hear water dripping somewhere in the distance. Shifting around, Cisco then noticed that his feet were plunged into water that went up to his calves. Taking a step forward his eyes finally adjusted and he found a series of tunnels leading off of each other.

"I'm back in the sewer," he whispered to himself. With nothing but a screwdriver in his hand, Cisco inched forward in the water. He moved forward a few more feet and came to a four-way intersection. He looked back and forth before the sound of voices got his attention. He twisted back and forth, straining to discern the voices. "Hello?"

He heard the voices once more and turned to the left, following the tunnels as quickly as he could. He ran as fast as he could, as high as his knees would take him, and sloshed through the water. He kept running as fast as he could, turning this way and that as the voices continued to increase and decrease in volume. Finally, he made it to a slope and walked out of the water. The air turned dryer and the sudden shift made Cisco's throat tickle. He wanted to cough, wanted to clear his throat but knew whomever was down there would come after him if he announced his presence. So Cisco held his breath and pressed forward.

As he turned the corner the first thing he saw was the room he had come into. It was open and there were three entrances to the room; one from the tunnel he came from, the other from the right side and another via a ladder that reached the top of the room. Then Cisco's eyes looked around the dimensions; the room wasn't so big but it wasn't tiny, enough for people to comfortably have their own space.

Then he took in blurry figures at the back of the room. There were two of them…maybe three. One of them was lying on the ground, or maybe sitting? With the other standing over him, saying something. Whatever was being said came to Cisco's ears as muffled sounds, almost as if he were in a Peanuts cartoon. The figure standing up turned to the side and Cisco saw a third figure lying on the ground.

Cisco moved a little closer and gasped when he saw Barry lying quietly on the ground, eyes closed. It didn't appear he was breathing.

"Barry," Cisco whispered.

Before he could slap his hand over his mouth or even regret his mistake, there was a rush of wind and Harrison stood in front of him, smiling the coldest, most calculated, most evil smile he had ever seen. Cisco felt a chill run down his spine as he waited for Harrison's hand to shove through his chest and stop his heart.

Instead, Harrison's smile widened. "Hello, Cisco," he greeted.

.

..

…

Cisco gasped loudly, jerking away from the suit that stood in front of him. He stumbled back a few steps and Ray turned towards him, eyebrows coming together in confusion. He reached out to steady himself against Ray's suit and shook his head.

"Cisco, what's going on?" Ray asked.

"I…I'm not sure. But it's not good. Ray, you need to put your suit on now." Cisco threw his tools to the floor and raced to a nearby computer. He moved through a few screens then let out a low gasp at the map that came up in front of him. "Go! Hurry!"

With that, Cisco turned on his heel and raced towards the Cortex.

Caitlin turned away from her computer and rubbed her eyes. There was so much to do and so little time. Especially when Barry wasn't around to help. Testing DNA was hard enough, but to test the DNA of someone so close to her was even harder. Especially considering there was nothing to test it against. They had no DNA of the Reverse-Flash but if she could test Harrison's against Barry's and Cadence's…

Then we'll at least figure out if there's anything that links their metahuman abilities together. Maybe even figure out if there's something that will once and for all link Harrison to the crime. She closed her eyes, hoping everything they were thinking was wrong. But knowing deep down they were probably right. There were too many coincidences for it to be something that didn't work out the way the cards were dealt.

Opening her eyes once more, Caitlin looked over and found Barry almost hesitantly making his way into the room. "Hey," She greeted him, sitting up straight.

"Hey," Barry replied. He nearly came to a stop as he looked her up and down. A smirk pulled at his lips and his eyes flashed as he gave her another obvious onceover. "You," he finally replied. "What are you doing?"

"I'm glad you asked because I could use your help," Caitlin said. She stood up from her seat and walked over to a fancy contraption that sat on the other side of the room with Barr following her. "I'm using this DNA machine to figure out what about yours and Cadence's DNA has in common towards metas. I know we've done this before but I want an more in depth look, to see if there's something embedded closely into the nuclei that could determine this since birth. To see if it's something, a gene, that we're born with. Then I'm going to put it in contrast with Harrison's DNA to see if there's anything that links them together as well as to your mother's murder."

Barry raised an eyebrow. "What does that have to do with me?"

"I'd hoped that you'd at least help move it along faster?" She asked, giving a small smile.

Barry didn't respond. Instead a smirk came to his face as he looked at her, his gaze just below her eyes. Caitlin tilted her head to the side and stared hard at him. "Barry?"

"What?" He lifted his gaze and sucked in a deep breath. "Oh! Right. Uh. Of course. But how much longer is it going to take before I actually need to step in and help?" Now his gaze flittered over towards the contraption behind her as she took a step towards him. "It seems like you're handling enough of it already."

"I know, but…" Caitlin closed her eyes. "I just…I need to know this, Barry. As soon as possible. I need to know what he's capable of, what he's done, if I wasted my time, my talent, my feelings…" She took a deep breath then turned her gaze to her feet. "I can't imagine what it feels like, Barry. To know that you know what's the truth and not have anyone believe you. To know that there's something or someone out there that hurt you so badly. And I can't imagine what it'll feel like to know someone you trusted, someone who managed to fill in that spot in your life that was vacant may have done this to you. But I need to know. I trusted Dr. Wells with everything and I don't want to ruin his reputation for something we don't know, but…"

She trailed off and lifted her gaze again. "Does that make sense?" Then she realized how close Barry was standing to her and jerked her head backwards. Barry continued to look calmly at her almost as if he didn't notice her confusion. "What are you doing?" She asked slowly.

Barry mimicked her and tilted his head. "Thinking," he replied in a slow drawl. "Of how much you get me. You understand what it's like, how much this hurts. How confusing this whole thing is." He reached out and grabbed onto Caitlin's shoulders, holding her still. "And I know how much this hurts you because of your feelings—"

"—Don't," Caitlin interrupted.

"We get each other. And I should've seen that a long time ago."

Caitlin started to say something else then stopped when Barry leaned in and pressed his lips against hers. Caitlin's eyes widened and she immediately tried to pull back away from him. He had such a tight grip on her. Finally, Caitlin managed to break free and, bewildered, tried to stammer out a protest.

"B-Barry, you can't—"

Then Barry kissed her again and she found herself kissing back. As wrong as it felt to her it also felt right. It felt right to be able to release all of the negative emotion she'd been holding inside for as long as she could remember. She brought her hands up and rested them on the sides of Barry's face and angled her head to kiss him again.

Her heart was telling her one thing, her brain was telling her another, and she was telling both of them to shut up.

Unbeknownst to Caitlin, Cadence arrived at STAR Labs and quickly made her way to the Cortex. She turned the corner and stopped short, as if she had been punched in the stomach. Cadence reached her hand down to make sure that she hadn't been sucker-punched by some sort of invisible metahuman. Eyebrows lowering, she watched as Barry, who held onto Caitlin's arms, pulled her closer to him.

As the fire metahuman watched, her lower jaw dropped, zeroing in on Caitlin. Closing her mouth, Cadence's eyebrows furrowed together and she turned on her heel, walking out of the room, suppressing the urge to send a flash fire throughout the room.

She had only made it around the corner before she bumped into Harrison, calming wheeling towards her in the opposite direction. "Hey Dad," she greeted him with barely concealed anger.

Harrison came to a stop next to her and craned his head back to look at her. "Wow, I've seen that look before but it was from your mother. And there's only been a few times I've been on the receiving end of that glare. I can't imagine what's made you so angry."

Now Cadence stared at him. At the man who had grown to be even more of a father to her than her adoptive father over the past couple of months and whose reputation had single-handedly (which she still wasn't sure was true) been obliterated in front of her eyes. And yet, she still felt the urge to tell him everything as she had done before.

"A lot of things," she replied.

"Must've been something in the Cortex then, considering you came out of there like you had the devil on your heels." Harrison moved forward once more and Cadence blew air out of her mouth, shifting her bangs off her forehead, Then she turned on her heel and followed him to the Cortex.

As they arrived she found Caitlin and Barry on far sides of the room with Caitlin moving at warp-speed; almost as if trying to keep herself as busy as possible. She nearly jumped as Harrison announced his and Cadence's presence in the room.

"What's that?" Harrison asked, turning his gaze over to the machine back in the corner of the room. He stared towards it and Caitlin moved back, as if to block the room. "What are you testing?"

"I'm just running some diagnostics," Caitlin said quickly. "To be sure everything is working out. You know, just in case…"

"In case of what?" Harrison pressed.

Cadence glanced at Harrison, noticing the sudden dark tone coming to his voice. The temperature in the room around them seemed to have dropped at the same time.

"Uh," Caitlin's eyes shifted. "In case…in case…"

Cadence snorted as Caitlin tried to come up with an excuse for what she was trying very hard to hide. She clenched her hands into fists and unclenched them over and over again, seeing her fingertips starting to glow. Then she snuffed it out. As…hurt, pissed, confused (all of the above) she was it wasn't going to help at the moment. When Caitlin looked over and caught Cadence's gaze, she immediately understood what was going on and she felt another wave of negative emotions.

Was Harrison someone she could trust or not? Whatever it was that Caitlin had been doing had to do with their suspicions over everything. And now she had to come up with an excuse to keep him from finding out what it was the rest of them were planning.

All of a sudden, Barry took long strides across the room and grasped Caitlin's shoulder. "You don't need to make excuses for him," he said. "You don't need to explain anything to him. Not after everything we know."

Harrison's eyes shifted. Caitlin's eyes widened as she looked back and forth between the two. Like a deer caught in headlights.

Even Cadence wasn't sure what to do.

"What are you doing, Barry?" Cadence asked.

"What we should've done a long time ago," Barry replied. He whipped his left hand behind him and when he pulled it out he held a gun in his hand. His finger moved towards the trigger and Harrison reacted quicker than the two of them could.

He reached into the pocket of his wheelchair and pulled out a taser. With a quick flick of his wrist the pinpricks shot out and struck Barry in the chest, sending an electric current through him. Barry let out a strangled, gurgling sound and slumped to the floor, losing his grasp on the gun.

"What did you do?" Caitlin cried, turning towards him.

"I wouldn't put so much worry into him. This guy here would've known not to have used his right hand when working through his masquerade because our Barry Allen is right handed," Harrison said, motioning down to the figure that lay on the floor.

"Are you sure?" Cadence snatched the taser out of Harrison's hand and aimed it towards Barry. "Let me just double check." She pointed the taser at his unconscious form and shot the electrified wire out at him. His body twitched as she continued to hold onto the charge.

"Uh…" Caitlin started, watching as the body continued to jerk around on the floor as the seconds passed. "Cade?"

"Cadence." Harrison reached out for the taser. "Cadence! Cade! Cade! Ok!" He grabbed onto the taser and yanked it out of her grasp. "I think we're completely satisfied that this is not our Barry Allen. You've made your point."

Cadence crossed her arms.

"But if that's not Barry then who is he?" Caitlin asked.

"That's a great question, Caitlin." Harrison flicked his wrist and flipped the taser in his hand. Then he violently tossed it aside. "Considering all of the questions I have for you have been answered as soon as he spoke."

Within the next few seconds things seemed to move in slow-motion.

Sensing the sudden change in Harrison's demeanor taking a dark turn, Cadence teleported in front of Caitlin and grabbed onto her. Harrison pushed himself up from his seat so that he was standing and rushed forward, ready to knock into her. He hadn't anticipated Cadence getting there first and slowed his momentum, but the force of his crash into the two girls sent them flying into the wall behind them.

Seeing things hadn't gone the way he planned Harrison turned on his heel and raced from the room leaving trails of red lightning behind.

Seconds after he left Cisco ran into the room, hair flying behind them. He fell to Caitlin's and Cadence's side. "Damn, I'm too late," he apologized. "Are you guys okay?"

"Yeah," Cadence replied, rubbing the knot on the back of her head. She pressed her palm flat against it, hoping she'd be able to heal herself. "I'm fine."

"I'm okay," Caitlin agreed.

"I came too late. I saw…I saw in my head…I don't know…something's happened to Barry. Harrison has him somewhere, in the sewers. I came to warn you, I didn't…I didn't make it in time." Cisco apologized. He looked over and saw the body laying prone on the ground. "What happened here?"

"Harrison attacked us," Cadence explained, pulling her hair back from her face. "You were right, Cisco. You and Barry. He's the Reverse-Flash." She felt a hard lump rise in her throat as the feeling of betrayal suddenly set in. "He killed Barry's mother and…who knows what he's trying to do now."

"Are you okay?" Cisco repeated. The girls nodded and he nodded back. "Okay. Good. I'll go tell Ray what's going on and then we need to go down into the sewers and find Barry."

"But if Harrison is down there with him he'll just take us out. He has the same powers as Barry he can move faster than any of us think. He can…he can kill us if he wants to." Caitlin ran her hands over her face, tears starting to slide down her cheeks. She hastily wiped them away, shaking her head.

"First we need to pinpoint where he is exactly and then make a plan to go down there," Cadence insisted. "Go get Ray and we'll all think of something to do." Cisco nodded and raced from the room once more. Cadence got to her feet and started to pace back and forth, a million thoughts racing through her head.

She wanted to kick, yell, scream, and cry but found that her body wouldn't cooperate. It was as if she was frozen, dumped into an icy lake and left to die.

"Thank you."

For a minute Cadence wasn't sure Caitlin had even said anything. Then she turned to her and found she was looking at her earnestly, gently grasping the front of her shirt. "By now, Cait, I figured you would've known that no matter what happens I'm always going to be there to protect you. Even if you call me a murderer."

"I was mad, Cade," Caitlin defended herself. "I was upset."

"I'm mad that you kissed Barry, or whomever the hell this guy is," Cadence shot back. "But that doesn't mean I'm going to call you a whore. I've been called that enough not to even think about calling anyone else that. And I was mad when you were willing to throw away so many people's lives for one person." She shook her head, face softening. "But I get it. I know why you would do that and I know why you would kiss Barry like that. It's because of how badly you're hurting. With Ronnie and Harrison and all this…" she tried not to grimace at the thought. "You had to have been hurting very badly and I was too self-centered to see it."

Caitlin's jaw slowly closed.

Cadence took the opportunity to continue. "I know how you feel. And I hate to think that, no matter what happens, we're still fighting at the end, just because of tough decisions we've had to make so far. Now knowing what we're going up against it would be incredibly petty of me to hold it over you. I love you, Caity, you're my best friend, and I'm sorry."

"I'm sorry, too," Caitlin replied. "For Barry and for what I said about you. You're not a murderer. You're much more than that, Cadey." She smiled. "You're a hero." She got up and moved to hug Cadence but the fire metahuman leaned back out of the way.

"You're not going to kiss me again are you?" She asked and laughed.

Caitlin groaned. "Are you ever going to let that go?"

"Only when it stops being funny," Cadence promised. She opened her arms for Caitlin to hug her. Being shorter than Caitlin—emphasized by her sneakers and Caitlin's high-heels—her face was pressed into Caitlin's shoulder. "I missed you."

"I missed you, too."

Barry awoke with a splash of water in his face. Coughing, he twisted around before getting to his feet. He cried out in surprise and shifted backwards away from Harrison as he stood across from him. Barry's eyes widened as he looked the man up and down.

He was really standing.

He could walk.

He was everything that he, Cisco, and Joe had thought.

"If I thought getting someone to pose as you was the quickest way to take down everything and everyone you loved, I would've done it ages ago," Harrison remarked. He said it almost as if he had mentioned something he forgot on his grocery list. With so much calculated reserve that it made Barry's blood run cold.

The speedster looked around the clearing, finding the two were alone. "What'd you do to them?" He whispered. "What'd you do to Caitlin, Cisco, and Cadence?"

"Nothing yet. Mostly because Cisco managed to peek into my plans. Honestly I didn't think he'd be able to hone his powers long enough to project himself. But then again he doesn't have the same power as that of The Flash." Harrison clasped his hands in front of him and smiled.

Barry was taken aback at how different Harrison looked without his glasses. Almost ten times more sinister. He could practically feel the evil radiating off him. Almost as if he was an entirely different person. Barry's eyes narrowed and he whispered. "Who are you?"

"Who am I?" Almost mockingly Harrison placed a hand on his chest. "Why, I'm Harrison Wells. But you can also call me Eobard Thawne considering we're one and the same. As for what I want…" He paced a few steps closer to Barry. "It's to see you dead. Though I can imagine you're going to put up a very tough fight. I'd be insulted if you didn't."

Barry trembled then outright started to shake. He shook so violently his entire body started to hurt. He felt nothing but pure adrenaline and hatred for the man that stood in front of him. Taunting him. Belittling him in the worst way.

Barry wanted to kill him.

"C'mon, Flash," Harrison hissed. "Let's see what you've got. Why don't you make your mother proud, don't let her die in vain."

Gritting his teeth, Barry charged across the clearing towards Harrison with yellow streaks behind him. Harrison smirked and charged towards him as well, leaving red streaks behind him.

The streaks of lightning combined into orange flashes as the two became locked in combat.

A/N: I usually don't leave titles for chapters up but because this one was so long I needed to.

But I bet you all didn't see that coming! I was excited with this idea as soon as I thought of it. And Cadence and Caitlin are friends again after everything. And we saw Cisco's powers get stronger. Who knows what else is going to happen!

One thing I can say for sure is that there's a big breakthrough for one of the characters of the story that I'm excited for you all to see. I'm just excited in general, lol. Let me know what you thought and I'll update again soon.

-Riles